Quo Vadis
Quo Vadis (Latin for "Where are you going?") is a 1951 American religious epic historical film set in ancient Rome during the final years of Emperor Nero's reign, based on the 1896 novel of the same title by Polish Nobel Laureate author Henryk Sienkiewicz. Produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and filmed in Technicolor, it was directed by Mervyn LeRoy from a screenplay by S. N. Behrman, Sonya Levien, and John Lee Mahin. It is the fourth screen adaptation of Sienkiewicz's novel. The film stars Robert Taylor, Deborah Kerr, Leo Genn, and Peter Ustinov, and features Patricia Laffan, Finlay Currie, Abraham Sofaer, Marina Berti, Buddy Baer, and Felix Aylmer. Future Italian stars Sophia Loren and Bud Spencer appeared as uncredited extras. The score is by Miklós Rózsa and the cinematography by Robert Surtees and William V. Skall. The film was released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer on November 2, 1951.
Plot
Marcus Vinicius is a Roman military commander and the legate of the XIV Gemina. Returning from wars in Britain and Gaul, he stays in the house of Aulus Plautius, a retired Roman general, and becomes smitten with Lygia, a Lygian hostage of Rome in the old general's care. Unbeknownst to Marcus, Lygia, Aulus, and his household are devout Christians, who host Paul the Apostle that very night. Petronius, Marcus' uncle, persuades Nero to give the girl to his nephew as a reward for his services. Lygia resents this arrangement, but eventually falls in love with Marcus.
Awards
Cast
- Abraham Sofaer
- Adrienne Corri
- Al Ferguson
- Aldo Pini
- Alfred Baillou
- Alfredo Varelli
- Anna Arena
- Bud Spencer
- Buddy Baer
- Christopher Lee
- Clelia Matania
- D. A. Clarke-Smith
- Deborah Kerr
- Elizabeth Taylor
- Elspeth March
- Enzo Fiermonte
- Felix Aylmer
- Finlay Currie
- Franco Fantasia
- Giulio Donnini
- Giuseppe Tosi
- Helena Makowska
- John Ruddock
- Leo Genn
- Leslie Bradley
- Lia Di Leo
- Liana Del Balzo
- Maria Zanoli
- Marika Aba
- Marina Berti
- Nicholas Hannen
- Nora Swinburne
- Norman Wooland
- Patricia Laffan
- Peter Miles
- Peter Ustinov
- Pietro Tordi
- Ralph Truman
- Richard Garrick
- Robert Taylor
- Robin Hughes
- Rosalie Crutchley
- Sophia Loren
- Walter Pidgeon
- William Tubbs